Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to pay tribute to a remarkable Australian, Graham 'Butch' Lenton, who, very sadly, passed away recently after a rather lengthy battle with cancer.

Butch Lenton was the mayor of Winton, which is how I met him a couple of years ago. He really was the most extraordinary community-minded man I think I've ever met. He lived in the town of Winton, lived all his life there, was born there, was raised there, went to school there, got married there, worked there, represented his community there and died there in this wonderful little town of about 800 people in Queensland. I first met Butch a couple of years ago. I was heading up to Winton to do a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service dental operation that was happening out there. I can still remember. Butch picked me up at the airport and he was larger than life. Butch was terrific. I got off the plane and met this man I hadn't met before, and we just clicked. From that point on, we got on very, very well.

The first day I was with Butch, he was driving me around his community, as all good mayors do. As it turned out, I ended up quite late for the function I was supposed to be there for, because Butch was showing me his town. He was showing me his community. It was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. He showed me everything in his town. I mean everything—absolutely everything! I think we even went to the tip. But it just—